Aung San Suu Kyi was voted as the Time Magazine's most influential person of the decade on 17 April, 2013. She won against Lady Gaga by 61 percent of the total votes. It came as a proud moment for Myanmar people who untiringly voted for her to show their utmost support for ‘The Lady.’ It is also regarded as a New Year present for Aung San Suu Kyi from her people as April 16 is the first day in the Myanmar calender.

Following her victory after the voting closed, many people shared their joy and enthusiasm on Facebook. Here are some of the posts:

Daw Suu is an icon of Myanmar. Our president is also a symbol of Myanmar's reformation. In any case, we have voted to present our country; our people's pride can be seen here. Lady Gaga's fans are also mobilizing people to vote for her in various fan pages. There is a stark difference in number of followers, internet users and the internet speed. I don't want to say anything about TIME's matching two people of different areas (I mean an Icon and a Pop-star; it would be better if she is matched with Obama or Hilary Clinton). There might be different opinions on the style of voting. But we can see the TIME's intention of allowing us to vote multiple times. Some people might think this is not necessary but this means a lot to us who recently have been able to look outside of a closed-society. Lady Gaga's fans and people from TIME magazine might be surprised (if they check IP, they will know who are voting). For Myanmar people who are living here or abroad, we have come to a cross-point. The word Myanmar that had been neglected always, now comes into recognition. We have started a new year with good news.

He also mentioned some of the other challenges facing Myanmar:

I fully hope that in the future we will be united as well for nation, peace, development and putting Myanmar in the right place. TIME's voting has finished but we still have Nation Building, and State Building has been only 2 years old. As the President said we have to walk ahead taking lessons and challenges from the past years.

Here are also some of the voters’ sentiments the day and night before the match was closed

Photo of a family voting for Aung San Suu Kyi, shared by Taw Win Daund

Who cares about this reactionary American imperialist magazine called
Time? Suu Kyi needs to score big in Peking if she wants to become the
next puppet President of Burma. Let us all support the Chinese copper
and jade mines, Chinese dams, gas and oil pipelines, naval bases, clear-cut logging, fake ID’s,
Burmese brides, … Down with all these stupid protestors and farmers at
Letpadaung and Maday island fighting for their livelihood on ancestral lands. Even Mt
Popa can be sold. Who cares about the 37 Nats. FDI is everything and
Chinese can supply the police with phosphorous bombs. Law and Order must
prevail for the “Rule of the Rich” in a Chinese Protectorate soon to be
named Miandian. The Rule of Law is there
not to protect individuals, especially the poor, voiceless and exploited
rural population, but the greedy Chinese SOB’s (State Owned Businesses). Suu Kyi
should remember why she used to be an icon in the West, not anymore, since she now is endorsing Chinese companies destroying the pristine natural environment and the traditional social fabric of the country where I was born.